UBER Werebear druid

[:1]So...

I am building a druid but want to do something different... I was thinking of a werebear, But am up in the air.

So i was wondering about werebear and what option would be the best option for enough ar... I was thinking hunger since it adds good ar. I would use a beast zerker axe. Or would I might be able to do this build with maul and just use angelic ammy combo or maybe 2xravens/metal grid for the extra ar?? Not sure where to go with this just wondering what everyone thinks about it and what would be a viable option.

I am open to other options, I do know fury druids are more viable... I just like the bear and thought it would be fun if you think I won't be able to compete with the uber's as a bear let me know .|||Hi Cliff,

I play a BearDruid in a HC Tournament right now. Due to the rules there I'm not allowed to wear Runewords, Sets or Uniques and I have to spend 75% of all skillpoints on Bear related skills, i.e. Lycanthrophy, Werebear, Maul, Fireclaws, Hunger and Shockwave.

I'm currently around Level 80 in Act 2 Hell.

The main problem is indeed AR. The AR bonus from Hunger isn't all that great and due to the damage reduction on all physical damage you'd have to use a weapon with big elemental damage like IK Maul to deal decent damage. That's certainly viable but I can't use Sets so not possible for me. The combination of Maul and Fireclaws work pretty well on the other hand. Use Maul with somewhat decent AR bonus until it's fully charged, then switch to Fireclaws for massive AR bonus and good fire damage on top of the charged physical damage. It's pretty neat that you keep the damage bonus and stun effect as long as Maul is charged, even if you switch to another skill.

AR still isn't enough though, so you certainly need items and/or charms with +AR. Even then he will never be the fastest killer around, but he's quite enjoyable and with patience he'll wear down anything.

This is all for single player PvM btw, I'm not sure if the UBER in the title refers to the Ubers or if you are just asking for a great build. So if you wanna fight Ubers I'm not sure if my advice is helpful.|||Beast will probably be a bit slow, doesn't really have that much damage and playing a shielded Bear isn't a great idea. You can't go wrong with upped Shaeled Ribcracker, and you'll definitely want more than 20% CB on your weap.

If you want to use an attack just for the AR then Fire Claws seems like a better idea. You could max both and still have 20 points in lyca/bear, although I'd probably not max Werebear completely and drop a couple of points in Dire Wolf for a more tank Grizz. Skip Oak Sage.

You can get quite a bit more AR from the Angelic combo, but you're going to want the res on Metalgrid... you'll have test which works better.

GL HF |||In the past few months it's been discovered that, while a Werebear using Hunger has a 4 frame maximum attack animation, due to a bug only every other attack is actually executed: maximum attack rate is thus actually 8 frames. See ledrug's "Hunger much?" topic in the Amazon Basin's Druid Room for details.

Hunger is always bugged for a Werebear, though not always for a Werewolf (depending on the breakpoint reached). As a result, SSoG's Mighty Kodiak (link from this forum's PvM/PvP Druid Guides sticky) is not as powerful as expected.|||i�d look into baranar's star socket with an eth probably...

50 ias

1-200 to each element

200% ar

high durablity

with an insight partizan i reached 7k ar (235% ar on insight) without any ar charms. combine this with maul, a few ar charms, the -25% and maybe raven + metalgrid and u should be hitting pretty steadily|||thks for all the advice... I will try and go that route the fireclaws/maul bear.... it should be fun|||________________________________________

Firecracker Bear by Orion



The Firecracker is made to have it all. That’s what a Bear wants. We are big and hungry and want to make monsters pay for crossing us. We want to solo hell and have fun doing it. This Bear has more than just fire damage to get the job done and done right! This short Build Guide is for Shapeshifters who want a new experience that is solid in PVM.

Level 89 Build for PvM with all Radiment and Izual quests done.

Approximately 8-9K fire damage with charms & equipment.

With Anni, COH, Jalals, Mara, 2 Shapeshift GC’s w/life(9 additional Skill Points/11 to SS) Makes it solid to go into battle with level 20 to 30 skills in everything you are using! The skills do make a stronger build.

WB Shapeshift Tree

+16 Lycanthropy (16-17)

+1 WW

+1 FR

+10 WB (10-11)

+1 Maul

+20 Fireclaw

+1 SW - very important but 1-2 pts and your there

= 50 points

Summon Tree

+1 Raven (actually optional) blocks projectiles a bit

Elemental Skills

5 MB (4-5)

5 FS (4-5)

20 Fis

20 Vol

= 50 pts

• 101 pts = level 89-91 build (definitely attainable) If you level past that - all points go into Lyc and WB

Equipment ….

Helm - Jalal’s Mane +2 to Druid skills and +2 to Shapeshift (SS) skills, 30% Faster Hit Recovery (FHR), 20% bonus to Attack Rating (AR), 30 to all resistances, +20 strength and +20 energy. Really it’s the best and only option for this build.

Armor - Chains of Honor Dusk or similar - we need the skills + resists + DR (8)

Rings/Ammy – Ravenfrost X2 + Amulet – Mara’s Kaleidoscope or Highlord (see notes + Dmg)

Belt – Dungo, and a Tgod – both needed

Gloves – Drac’s for life

Boots – +Gores for damage, Aldurs - speed and life.

Switch – CTA/Sigon Shield (easier on Str req)

* not a lot of excess gear here - keeps it simple *

B]Stash Items[/B] – Carrion Wind Ring, Tgod Belt and/or Wisp Ring, Dwarf Star Ring – 4 the McGiver effect.

* Important: Save Socketing choices until you’ve found your endgame gear. Fill in Gaps with charms (30-40ed with IAS is nice) but if you need DR – Ber it! Concentrate on Life/AR/Damage/FRW Charms with 2 X Shapeshifters Charms. You want to be able to Tank Damage and Defense without being slow.

* The biggest gain is to Ber Jalals, wear Highlords ammy, and get some resist charms - works very well!

no matter what you'r going to need some AR/Life charms.





Weapon – Ribcracker – Essential Weapon for a Firecracker Bear

Ribcracker – Up’d and Shael’d – (non – eth 280 --300ED)

Base Weapon Speed: [0]

+200-300% Enhanced Damage (varies)

Adds 30-65 Damage

+50% Damage To Undead

* 50% Chance Of Crushing Blow (Enough for Ubers/Bosses)

* 50% Increased Attack Speed (70% socketed with Shael)

* 50% Faster Hit Recovery (80 with Jalals )

* +100% Enhanced Defense (enhanced by WB skills)

* +100 Defense

+15 To Dexterity

(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)





Build Summary /Equipment Basics – i.e.… what you need to be effective

86 FHR - with Jalals, Dungo, Ribby – your there! Have an extra 6FHR in charms if wearing Tgod.

75 resists in Hell – Gotta be there or very close (30 Jalal, 65 COH, 10-20 Anni, 20-30 Mara) but if you have alot of Res charms - grab a Highlord and Enjoy it - DS rocks!

4500- 5500+ life bubble with equipment and charms (gonna need charms!)--- B4 BO

50-60% Faster Run/Walk Boots + charms– Better to be fast and be mobile

20-30 Damage Reduction – (13-15 on Dungo, 8 Coh, + maybe Ber) it’s a two hander so Ber Jalals if needed.

AR – Raven x 2, Jalal boost, WB boost, and some good charms (100 AR + from charms and 100 Life- get as close to that as you can) and then the wonderful boost from Ribby – yep it’s a wonder stick!



Shockwave once or twice first then - before entering the fray. Play it careful B4 lifetap casts. This is a Solid Build. Not many switches or keys so keep swinging and back off when you need to after a SW. Very versatile, having a Strong Offensive Attack and Solid Defense --- Enjoy it!!! – Firecracker is a Killer.

Updated while I was trying out new gear – so best bear build for boss/uber with what I got. Short guide for my notes and a damn good Bear



**--Updated Build Summary--** July 28, 2011

The better way to attack Ubers!



WB Shapeshift Tree

+20 Lycanthropy

+1 WW

+1 FR

+20 WB

+10 Maul

+20 Fireclaw

+2 SW - very important but 1-2 pts and your there

= 74 points

Summon Tree

+1 Raven (actually optional) blocks projectiles a bit

Elemental Skills

1 MB (4-5)

1 FS (4-5)

20 Fis Fire and Phs damage

1 Vol

= 23 pts

These points are for a little fire damage and alot of AR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 99 pts = level 88-89 build (definitely attainable) If you level past that - put pts into maul as you continue to level until level 15 for your 1st 4 swings and switch to Fireclaw for the AR= Greater Damage and Attack Rating

|||My favorite melee bear is the IK mauler. Very cheap, and very effective.|||Damric

How effective do you think a SS/FC would be with the skill layout I have above wearing an IK x 4 --w/Jalals (Ber'd) , Highlord and COH???? Obviously you would just put 20 in Fis and Vol and put the rest in Lyc n WB - otherwise it may be overkill on the elemental ... but maybe not! More damage is good damage lol

Was just wondering if anyone has tried it.|||Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all of the Ubers in trist have massive fire resistances?

Just checked: Meph and Baal have 75% and Diablo has 95%. Meph has 20% physical resist and Baal and Diablo have 50%.

Clearly a Fireclaws Bear doesn't look like it'd be ideal for Ubers, which is what the post is about. It'd be seemingly incapable of killing Uber Diablo (and truth be told he's the easiest of the 3), while it would at least be inferior than any physical build against the other two.

According to my reading a fully synergized fire claws would hit for around 4.5k fire damage, which against diablo would translate to 225 damage, which is FAR less than his regen. 1125 against the other two which is still not enough to actually kill them.

So basically for a Fire Claws Bear you would be relying on your physical damage component to kill the Ubers anyway, so why even spend points beefing up fire claws? It also can't kill the fire immune minions in Uber Trist.

Stick to phyiscal damage, more phyisical damage, and even more physical damage to beat the ubers. Elemental damage simply is no good. Meph is Immune to Light and Poison, Diablo is almost immune to fire (he is with his regen), and Baal is immune to cold.

I suppose if your merc were to use infinity this build may do better, but it still would be inferior in Uber Trist to a Physical damage build employing a Merc that gave you a few auras.

To the OP: Don't rely on fire damage in Uber Trist :-p